Tanaka Gives Struggling Yankees Just What They Need

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Masahiro Tanaka (6-0) limited the Mets to four hits and struck out eight Wednesday as the Yankees ended a six-game losing streak to the Mets in the Subway Series.CreditBarton Silverman/The New York Times

Their pitching staff was in tatters, their spirits at a season low after a four-game losing streak, and their bullpen weary from a heavy workload. With the Yankees teetering in a precarious place, who better to pull them out of their funk than the rookie from Japan who never seems to lose?

Masahiro Tanaka made his debut in the Subway Series with an exclamation point Wednesday, throwing his first shutout and collecting his first hit to lead the Yankees to a soothing victory, 4-0, over the Mets at Citi Field.

“I knew that we were in a little funk, losing four in a row, and I also knew that we hadn’t won a Subway Series in a while,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “So yes, I did want to go out there and try to get a win for us.”

Tanaka has not lost a regular-season game since Aug. 26, 2012, when he was in Japan, and the Mets were not capable of halting his intercontinental run of success. He dominated a mostly overmatched lineup, and became the first Yankees rookie to open his career 6-0 since Whitey Ford went 9-0 in 1950.

He pitched nine sterling innings, allowing four hits and striking out eight with a scintillating array of 114 pitches.

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Masahiro Tanaka singled in the ninth inning Wednesday at Citi Field — his first hit in the majors. He also pitched a shutout.CreditBarton Silverman/The New York Times

“He was huge when we needed him to be,” Brett Gardner said. “Obviously, he’s been really good, but the way he works hard between starts, and how competitive he is, I think he’s only going to get better.”

While Tanaka handcuffed the Mets’ hitters, another rookie provided all the offense he would need to win. Yangervis Solarte, who is emerging as the Yankees’ most valuable position player, hit his fourth home run and scored the first run of the game on one of Brian Roberts’s two triples. Mark Teixeira hit his eighth home run, and even Tanaka, a poor hitter, managed a hit in the top of the ninth, his first in the majors.

“Apparently, he can do everything,” Roberts said.

Tanaka, who batted .081 over his seven-year career in Japan, now has more hits than the entire Mets pitching staff. Rafael Montero, making his major league debut for the Mets, was 0 for 1, leaving the Mets’ pitchers 0 for 64, extending their record of futility.

The Yankees had experienced futility in recent years against the Mets. Wednesday’s win was the first time the Yankees had beaten them since 2012, breaking a six-game losing streak against the Mets. The victory also helped soothe the news the Yankees received earlier about C. C. Sabathia, one of their three starting pitchers on the disabled list. A degenerative knee problem was diagnosed, casting doubt about when Sabathia can come back to help the Yankees’ rotation.

Ivan Nova is out for the season after elbow surgery, and Michael Pineda is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained muscle in his upper back, near his right shoulder.

Shawn Kelley, one of the Yankees’ principal relief pitchers, is on the D.L. with a strained lower back and Preston Claiborne, Alfredo Aceves and Matt Daley were all unavailable after throwing the night before, putting more pressure on Tanaka not only to pitch well, but to pitch deep into the game.

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Rafael Montero made his major league debut on Wednesday.CreditBarton Silverman/The New York Times

“What he was able to give us today was great,” a relieved Joe Girardi, the manager, said.

Hiroki Kuroda is healthy, but not pitching up to his usual standards, leaving Tanaka as the Yankees’ best bet to win a game. He did, and is unbeaten in his last 42 regular-season starts dating to when he was with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan, more than 20 months ago. He is 34-0 in that span in the regular season, with his only defeat coming in a complete-game loss in Game 6 of the Japan Series.

The Mets, who hit a total of six home runs Monday and Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, which has a much smaller outfield than the vast acreage at Citi Field, managed only one extra-base hit, a double by Eric Young Jr. in the sixth.

The Mets also had a rookie pitcher on the mound, Montero, who showed poise in his first start. One of several young pitching prospects for the Mets, Montero did not dazzle, but he was aggressive and showed he belonged on a major league mound, even if he took the loss after allowing three runs and five hits in six innings.

One of the runs could have been avoided, though. Montero walked Solarte with two outs in the second, then watched as Young botched Roberts’s ball and Solarte scampered home.

Solarte, who was 1 for 3, is batting .336 with a team-high 23 runs batted in.

When told that his batting average was tops in the American League, Solarte waved his hands as if to prohibit such talk.

“I don’t want to know that,” he said. “I don’t worry about the number. I don’t want to see it on the screen. I just want to play baseball.”

The Yankees benefited from a mistake by Young, who needlessly dove on the first of Roberts’s triples, in the second inning. The ball got behind him and Solarte scored easily from first. The Yankees led, 1-0, and Tanaka took care of the rest.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B19 of the New York edition with the headline: Tanaka Gives Struggling Yankees Just What They Need. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe